The Starship Troopers Scene That Aged Poorly

Although it may be overshadowed by some of its contemporaries, there's no denying that "Starship Troopers" was a landmark science fiction movie. Wildly misunderstood when it was released, the 1997 film touched on a number of topics from the dangers of facism to the horrors of war, and even the fickleness of a high schooler's love. All the while, it retained a sense of satire rivaled by few other movies of its era. These features combined to make "Starship Troopers" somewhat unsuccessful upon release, but eventually contributed to its current reputation as more of a cult sci-fi classic, one that was on the cutting-edge of its day (despite being based on a novel from 1959).

However, not everything about "Starship Troopers" has gotten better with time. It may remain a landmark film in sci-fi history, but that doesn't make it exempt from criticism. In particular, there is one "Starship Troopers" scene that aged quite poorly. If it were to be released today, it may even elicit a few laughs from the audience. 

One of the most interesting things in "Starship Troopers" is the presence of the alien arachnids, often referred to as "bugs" by the film's characters. This is the extraterrestrial species of gargantuan insects that humanity has been at war with for the duration of the film. Considering the movie was released in the 1990s, the CGI used to bring the arachnids to life is actually pretty solid. Even today, the arachnids look just as threatening as they did upon the film's release. That stops being the case, however, when the tanker bug enters the fray.

While the tanker bug itself still looks good, various effects used in the big scene it appears in have aged pretty poorly. For instance, when the tanker bug sprays a fiery substance at the puny humans surrounding it, the spray itself resembles Nickelodeon slime, even as it melts away the arm of one unfortunate soldier. The same can be said for the tanker bug's Fanta-orange colored blood, which looks hilariously fake, even for a CGI alien monster.

Nevertheless, the CGI for the tanker bug is but a small part of "Starship Troopers" as a whole. It may not be the best, or even half as good as "Jurassic Park" (which came out four years prior), but the movie itself still works as long as the viewer can suspend their belief for a little while.